The Maker Movement...takeaways from ACTEM

Recently I went to the ACTEM (Association of Computer Technology Educators of Maine) conference and wanted to bring back some "goodie" ideas as well as to share what I noticed to be the trend in tech ed.

Creation and using technology to do so was a huge theme throughout the entire conference. The very next day I received my copy of Tech & Learning (see picture of cover above) highlighting the "Maker Movement". This quote from Sylvia Martinez sums The Maker Movement up well.

  It's a global technological and creative revolution. Some very   smart people are predicting that the tools and technology of     the Maker Movement will revolutionize the way we produce,         market and sell goods across the world, just print it out!       Better yet, design it yourself and then print it out. Something   this epic should be on ever educator's radar.


The rest of the article is worth a quick read and is located here: Meet the Makers article. Some practices from the Maker Movement that relate to our classrooms are: learning by doing, problem solving or giving it a go, and encouraging a do it yourself attitude (Martinez, 2013).

In addition to the above practices, the Maker Movement can be thought of as an integration of Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM). The key word here is integration! 

Along the same lines,computer programming or coding is a huge field where good workers are needed. "The Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates that by 2020, the U.S. will create 1.4 million jobs in computer science related fields. If current trends continue, U.S. citizens with the necessary skills and experience will fill only 30% of these jobs." Check out this one minute video by code.org for more: Anybody Can Learn to Code.

Coding for our little ones would be a great math extension. Here is a list of apps to learn coding (read- problem solving and computation practice!) on the iPad. This list is also located on the "Apps for iPad" page on my blog. Additionally, I am ordering a kit called Makey Makey developed at the Kindergarten Lab at MIT. The short video below is well worth checking out! If you have feedback on any of this, add a comment or let me know!

Puffin Browser iPad App

Recently purchased for you, as well as the iPad Minis available for check out, is the Puffin Browser iPad App. This will allow you to override Flash which is not supported on the iPad. Popular applications you will now be able to access through Puffin are: Tumblebooks, BrainPop Jr., PebbleGo, Think Central & Children's Progress. I recommend adding each of these as bookmarks on this app which will allow you and your students to quickly get to these sites.

Additionally, when you login to: Tumblebooks, BrainPop Jr., & PebbleGo, save your passwords. Then your students (and you) will easily be able to get started on each of these sites without trouble.

Here is a screenshot of what you will see when you open the app. Please let me know if you have questions about this, or better yet, comment below!

PebbleGo - News Flash!

For some of us we now have a new subscription! All three K-2 Schools have a subscription to PebbleGo - The Emergent Reader Research Solution - Animals. Pleasant Hill has used this before so they may have some good ideas about integrating this resource.

This will be great for animal research, for non-fiction reading and for practicing with non-fiction text conventions. Plus, we can access it simultaneously (think - we won't all have to share the same chipmunk book if we each have first graders studying that animal!).

PebbleGo reads to you appropriate for all three grade levels, may be a bit basic for 2nd grade ocean research at the end of the year but see for yourself if you're a second grade teacher. Here are some annotated screenshots I made to show you some highlights. Please comment below if you have questions or ideas. We are better as a team!

Splash Screen

Individual Animal

Animal Printout

Word cloud for Open House anyone?

Check out this Poster made from the web application Wordle! The folks over at Technology Tailgate, a fun and informative blog for primary grades,  have some clearly written directions here. By the way, I found this on Pinterest. Here's a link to my Tech Pinterest Board if you are on Pinterest. 

Also, Tagzedo is a fun way to make word clouds and you can select a certain shape, words in the shape of an apple anyone?

Inquiry-Driven iBoat Project- 21st Century Message in a Bottle, 2nd Grade

Hello Second Grade Teachers!

I am creating some iBoat modules that I am offering to teach to your class throughout the year. They will be inter-disciplinary, mainly with geography and technology but some other subjects embedded as well. I believe the modules will be of high-interest to second graders and developmentally appropriate helping to drive home the point that geography is interesting and as second graders you can connect to geography! Here are some bullets describing the first two modules.

1. The iBoat will be in the Scarborough Schools in September. Then it will be prepared to be launched after that. I will do a lunch-time introduction for all grades on the following dates. If you would like me to come to your classroom or your second grade team on that date, please let me know!
1. Wed., 9/11- PH
2. Thurs., 9/12- BP
3. Tues., 9/17- EC
2. Before the end of September I am also offering to come into your classroom or do a second grade meeting on the day I am in your building focusing on: What information about ourselves can we share with whoever finds the iBoat? How could we share this? This will be along the lines of expository composition with a real-world audience. 

• After these two modules, I will share more information with you. I don't want to give you too much all at once as you are probably already on information overload right now!

You could respond with interest to the email I wrote or to this blog post. Please include when it might work for me to come in for module two if you are interested.

~Courtney

Google Apps Seminar, Aug. 22, 2013

Google Apps Seminar, Aug. 22, 2013